Ballyrobin Country Lodge Events

Here’s hoping for success at The Irish Restaurant Awards Ulster Regional Awards to be held in the Lough Erne Resort, Fermanagh on Tuesday 14th March 2017.

Ballyrobin have been nominated in a number of categories and let’s keep our fingers crossed. We have been nominated in the following categories:

Best Chef: Jim Mulholland and John Clark

Local Food Hero: Jim Mulholland

Best Casual Dining

Best Hotel Restaurant

Best Rerstaurant

Best Seafood Experience

Good luck everyone !

http://ballyrobincountrylodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/BRCLH-3-STAR-LogoExt150px.png00Ballyrobinhttp://ballyrobincountrylodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/BRCLH-3-STAR-LogoExt150px.pngBallyrobin2017-03-10 12:22:532017-03-10 12:22:53Congratulations to Jim and John on their Nominations in the Irish Restaurant Awards 2017

The Restaurants Association of Ireland are delighted to announce that the nominations for the Irish Restaurant Awards 2017 are now open. The public are able to choose their favourites across 20 categories including Best Restaurant, Best Casual Dining, Best Chef, Best Seafood Experience, Best World Cuisine and more.

Nominations can be made via www.irishtimes.com/irishrestaurantawards from 12 noon, Wednesday 11th of January until 12 noon, Wednesday 25th of January
The Irish Restaurant Awards showcase the true talent that Ireland’s hospitality industry has to offer by acknowledging outstanding performers in the sector. Growing steadily from its humble beginnings back in 2009, the awards are now a five-month long process consisting of online public nominations, judging panels, mystery guest inspections and regional and national events.

Adrian Cummins, Chief Executive of the Restaurants Association commented; “The aim of the Irish Restaurant Awards is to honour the hard working people of the hospitality industry from cocktail makers, sommeliers and waiters to restaurant managers and local food champions. The restaurant industry is the biggest employer within the Irish tourism sector, employing over 74,000 people and these awards are a celebration and acknowledgement of the hard work put in by restaurateurs year round.”

This year, there are 20 categories in which the general public can nominate. These categories are made up of 15 Main award categories, including an exciting new category ‘Pub of the Year’, and five National award categories.

Main categories are as follows:
• Best Restaurant
• Best Chef
• Best Restaurant Manager
• Best Hotel Restaurant
• Best Casual Dining
• Best Gastro Pub
• Best Newcomer
• Best Customer Service
• Best Wine Experience
• Best Emerging Irish Cuisine
• Best World Cuisine
• Best Cafe
• Best Kids Size Me
• Local Food Hero
• Pub of the Year (NEW!)

National Categories
• Best Cocktail Experience
• Best Private Dining & Club Restaurant
• Best Cookery School
• Best Seafood Experience
• Best Digital Marketing

In the first stage of the judging process, online nominations are given a weighting of 30%, while the remaining 70% is made up from a regional judging panel assessment. Both of these results are combined and reviewed by an independent auditor (BDO) to give an overall county winner per category. These winners will be announced at a number of regional events held in March.

Each county winner then goes forward to the Regional and All-Ireland stage whereby they will then each receive a mystery guest inspection. They will be assessed on their menu, customer service, and the overall dining experience from the moment the booking is made until the customer receives the bill. Full details on the judging process can be found on the official Awards website www.irishrestaurantawards.com.

National Categories will not receive a mystery guest inspection. They will be judged by the National Academy with the exception of Best Cocktail Experience which will be judged by the Bartenders Association of Ireland at a live competition.
The All-Ireland final of the Irish Restaurant Awards 2017 takes place on Monday 8th of May 2017 in the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road.

http://ballyrobincountrylodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/BRCLH-3-STAR-LogoExt150px.png00Ballyrobinhttp://ballyrobincountrylodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/BRCLH-3-STAR-LogoExt150px.pngBallyrobin2017-01-20 11:57:072017-01-20 11:57:21Your Chance to Nominate us for The Irish Restaurant Awards

What is it they say about too many cooks ? Well Ballyrobin Country Lodge were delighted to welcome Celebrity chef Jean- Christophe Novelli to Ballyrobin recently as he popped in for dinner on his way to appear at the Foyle Maritime Festival and meet the crews involved in the Clipper race.

Head chef at Ballyrobin Jim Mullholland was delighted to meet him and prepared a delicious tasting menu that included, Dundrum Bay Oysters, Braised Pigs Cheek, Clogherhead Wild Halibut amongst a selection of local produce.

Jean-Christophe Novelli left praising Jim and his team , thanking them for the memories and promised to come back soon with his family.

Jean-Christophe Novelli is a 5 out of 5 AA Rosette and multi Michelin Star award winning chef who has also been dubbed “The Nation’s Favourite French Chef”, European Chef of The Year finalist representing Great Britain, recipient of the prestigious Egon Ronay Dessert of the Year award. Voted Chef’s Chef of the Year by his peers.

His Novelli Academy has been voted one of the Top 25 Cooking Academies in the World, which he still owns and performs his own demonstrations. Jean-Christophe has made ‘countless’ appearances on both British and US TV including Chef Academy for Bravo TV.